Samaritan offering 'employment incentive' for nurses

MOSES LAKE — Nurses hired by Samaritan Healthcare will be eligible for “signing incentive” of $10,000, part of an effort by hospital officials to fill existing nursing jobs. Nurses that receive the payment must work full time and must commit to two years employment.

Chief executive officer Teresa Sullivan said that sounded like a lot of money, “but we have seen some that are even higher than that. And when you look at what we’re ending up paying for temporary manpower, if we can improve and retain permanent staff, I think that’s the best thing for us.”

There’s a hiring incentive payment of $5,000 for nurses working 20 to 24 hours per week, said HR director Julie Weisenburg.

In other business, chief financial officer Alex Town reviewed the February financial report – and after two months, 2018 has been pretty good.

Net income in February was $287,337, about double the 2018 budget projection. Net income for the year to date is $809,020, more than double the budget projection.

“The first two months have been good months, but keep in mind, we’ve still got 10 more months to go,” Town said. “You’re going to see some months where we’re not going to do so well.” The good start will help make up for those not-so-good months, he said.

Both inpatient and outpatient revenues were above the budget projections, Town said. (Inpatients stay in the hospital at least one night.) “A lot of this is attributed to our inpatient admissions.” Admissions were higher than projected for general surgery, obstetrics and orthopedics. Outpatient revenue was higher due to outpatient surgeries, lab and pharmacy use. Even though fewer patients visited the emergency room, they needed a higher level of care, and as a result ER revenues were above budget targets, he said.

New doctors, physician assistants and nurse practitioners have meant more patients at Samaritan Clinic, and clinic revenue in February was 5.3 percent above the budget target as a result. For the year clinic revenue was 9.1 percent above budget.

Samaritan is treating more patients and generating more revenue, which also translates into more expenses. Expenses were 6.8 percent above budget projections.

More patients means more supplies, and, when the hospital is not fully staffed, it also means more temporary employees, Town said.

Samaritan has provided $758,334 in “uncompensated care” in the first two months of the year, Town said.